Fast Lamb wave energy shift approach using fully contactless ultrasonic system to characterize concrete structures

Ultrasonic techniques provide an effective non-destructive evaluation (NDE) method to monitor concrete structures, but the need to perform rapid and accurate structural assessment requires evaluation of hundreds, or even thousands, of measurement datasets. Use of a fully contactless ultrasonic system can save time and labor through rapid implementation, and can enable automated and controlled data acquisition, for example through robotic scanning. Here we present results using a fully contactless ultrasonic system. This paper describes our efforts to develop a contactless ultrasonic guided wave NDE approach to detect and characterize delamination defects in concrete structures. The developed contactless sensors, controlled scanning system, and employed Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) signal processing scheme are reviewed. Then a guided wave interpretation approach for MASW data is described. The presence of delamination is interpreted by guided plate wave (Lamb wave) behavior, where a shift in excited Lamb mode phase velocity, is monitored. Numerically simulated and experimental ultrasonic data collected from a concrete sample with simulated delamination defects are presented, where the occurrence of delamination is shown to be associated with a mode shift in Lamb wave energy.